Further Discussion on the Issue of the Ancient and the New Texts of the Zhouyi

8 As it remarks in the “Alone Ancient Governance” (duzhi 独治) chapter of the Kong congzi 孔丛子 [juanzhong 卷中], “Cheng Yu 陈余 told Ziyu 子鱼: ‘The Qin is extinguishing the former kings’ documents, as you are the manager of the books and documents, you will be dangerous.’ Zi yu answered: ‘There are really worries. They must seek the books under heaven and burn them. Those who do not present books will be punished. I will hide them in advance and wait for their seeking, thus when they come to try to seek books in vain I will not be punished.’” [wenyuange sikuquanshu ben 文渊阁四库全书本]

9 Richard John Lynn, The Classic of Changes: A New Translation of the I Ching as Interpreted by Wang Bi. New York: Columbia University Press, 1994, 47.

10 Ibid., 77.

11 Ibid., 58.

12 Ibid., 62.

13 Jia Yi 贾谊, Xinshu 新书 (New Writings) (Part One), in Zhuzi baijia congshu 诸子百家丛书 (A Series of Books of the Hundred Schools of Thought). Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe, 1989, 48.

14 Richard John Lynn, The Classic of Changes: A New Translation of the I Ching as Interpreted by Wang Bi. New York: Columbia University Press, 1994, 57.

15 Jia Yi 贾谊, Xinshu 新书 (New Writings) (Part Two), in Zhuzi baijia congshu 诸子百家丛书 (A Series of Books of the Hundred Schools of Thought). Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe, 1989, 49.

16 Richard John Lynn, The Classic of Changes: A New Translation of the I Ching as Interpreted by Wang Bi. New York: Columbia University Press, 1994, 58.

17 According to Xu Shen’s 许慎 view, “then there were six styles of writing: one is called ancient text, referring to the books concealed in the walls of Confucius’s residence.…which refer to the Liji 礼记 (Record of Rites and Rituals), Shangshu 尚书 (Book of History), Chunqiu 春秋 (Springs and Autumns Annals), Lunyu 论语 (Analects of Confucius), and Xiaojing 孝经 (Classic of Filial Piety) obtained by King Gong of Lu 鲁恭王 when he was destroying Confucius’s residence in order to enlarge his own house. Additionally, Zhang Cang 张苍 (256-152 BCE), then the Duke of Beiping 北平侯, donated his Chunqiu zuoshi zhuan 春秋左氏传 (Zuo’s Commentary on the Springs and Autumns Annals). People in prefectures also frequently came by cauldrons along the rivers or inside the mountains, the inscriptions on which were ancient texts of the former dynasties similar to each other. Thus the remote origin could be seen to a great extent and their details could be outlined.” See Xu Shen 许慎, Shuowen jiezi 说文解字 (Explanation of Simple and Composite Characters). Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1963, 315.

18 According to Ban Gu’s records, “Liu De 刘德 was appointed King Xian of Hejian in 156 BCE. Being practical and realistic, he cultivated himself with learning and was fond of ancient records. Once he came by good books from the people, he had to seriously copy them down and give them the copied edition and retain the authentic one, and add gold or silk to award the donors. Thus those talented persons knowing the Dao 道 (Way) or shu 术 (arts) were not afraid to take the trouble of traveling a long distance to gather at his court, and those who owned old books inherited from their ancestors tended to donate them to King Xian. As a result, he obtained almost as many books as the books owned by the Han imperial court. At that time, King Huainan 淮南王, i.e., Liu An 刘安 also loved books, but most of what he collected were frivolous and argumentative writings. What King Xian obtained were all old books of the pre-Qin written in ancient characters, such as Zhou guan 周官, Shangshu 尚书, Li 礼, Liji 礼记, Mencius 孟子, Lao zi 老子, and so on, which were attributed to classics, commentaries, discussions, or records of the seventy disciples (of Confucius). He placed emphasis on the Six Confucian Arts (liuyi 六艺) and established Erudite of Maoshi shi 毛氏诗 (the Mao Edition of the Book of Poetry) and Zuoshi chunqiu 左氏春秋 (Zuo’s Commentary on the Springs and Autumns Annals). He cultivated himself by music and rituals and adhered to Confucianism at any time and under any circumstance. Thus most Confucians in the East of Mount Xiao (山东) followed and toured with him. See Ban Gu 班固, Hanshu 汉书 (History of the Western Han Dynasty). Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1962, 2410.

19 “In the last years of Emperor Jing’s 景帝 (r. 157-141 BCE) reign, when King Gong of Lu 鲁共王 was eliminating Confucius’s original residence to enlarge his own mansion, he obtained tens of chapters of ancient text books including Shangshu, Liji, Lunyu, and Xiaojing, all of which were written in ancient characters. When King Gong entered the residence, he heard sounds of drums, qin [a seven-stringed plucked instrument], bells, and chime stones. (Scared by these suddenly arising sounds,) he stopped destroying the residence.” See ibid., 1710.

20 “Li gujing 礼古经 came from Yanzhong 淹中 of Lu 鲁, and Kong (Anguo 孔安国), which was similar to the (popular) seventeen chapters (of the Lijing [Classic of Rituals]) but includes thirty-nine more chapters than the latter. See ibid., 1710.

21 “The ancient text of Xiaojing 孝经 was dedicated by three old men from the State of Lu during the reign of Emperor Zhao 昭帝 (r. 87-74 BCE). During the Jianwu years 建武 (25-56 CE), it was redacted by Wei Hong 卫宏, who was then an official of Yilang 议郎. It had always been orally transmitted and there were no official discourses. He just compiled one chapter and dedicated it to the emperor.” See Xu Shen 许慎, Shuowen jiezi 说文解字 (Explanation of Simple and Composite Characters). Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1963, 320.

22 “Until the reign of Emperor Xuan (r. 74-49 BCE), when a woman in Hehei was destroying an old house, she obtained one chapter of the Changes, the Li, and the Shangshu respectively and donated them. Emperor Xuan showed them to the Erudites, then the three Classics added one chapter respectively, and the twenty-nine chapters of the Shangshu began to be determined.” (Please see the Chapter of “Rectified Sayings” [zhengshuo 正说] in Wang Chong’s 王充 Lunheng 论衡, the edition of Wenyuange siku quanshu 文渊阁四库全书本) It also says in the “Classical Documents Treatise” (Jingji zhi 经籍志) of the Suishu 隋书 (History of the Sui Dynasty): “Until the burning of the books by the Qin, the Zhouyi alone survived due to its being a book of divination, except the loss of three wings including Shuogua 说卦 (Discussion of the Trigrams), Xugua 序卦 (Orderly Sequence of the Hexagrams) and Zagua 杂卦 (Hexagrams in Irregular Order) which were later obtained by the woman of Henei.” Beijing: Zhonghua shujiu, 1973, 912.

23 Guo Moruo 郭沫若, “On the Dating of the Zhou Changes” (Zhouyi zhi zhizuo shidai 周易之制作时代), in Guo Moruo quanji 郭沫若全集 (Collected Works of Guo Moruo) (Lishi bian 历史编 [Compilation Related to History]), vol. 1. Beijing: Renmin Publishing House, 1982, 394.

24 Qu Wanli 屈万里, Han shijing zhouyi canzi ji zheng 汉石经周易残字集证 (Evidence for the Collected Fragmentary Characters of the Zhouyi Inscribed on the Steles of the Han), vol. 1. Taibei: Zhongyang yanjiuyuan lishi yuyan yanjiusuo 中央研究院历史语言研究所, 1961, 20-21.

25 Ibid. Scholars from the ancient times to the present have not arrived at a consensus on what this chapter was. Cui Shi 崔适 (1852-1924) in his Wujing shiyao 五经释要 (Essential Interpretations of the Five Classics) [vol. 4] identified it with “Xugua”; Contemporary scholar Wang Baoxuan 王保玹 contended it was “Shuogua” while Yang Xiong 扬雄 (53 BCE-18 CE) in the chapter of “Questioning Spirits” (Wen shen 问神) of his Fayan 法言 (An Imitation of the Analects of Confucius) identified it as “Zagua” and was supplemented (to the Changes) in the last years of the Western Han dynasty, which “was most probably one of Wang Mang’s 王莽 innovations.” Please see Wang Baoxuan 王保玹, Jinguwen jingxue xin lun 今古文经学新论 (New Discussions on the Ancient and the New Text Classical Studies). Beijing: Chinese Social Sciences Press, 1997, 393-395.

26 Wang Rongbao 汪荣宝, Fanyan yi shu 法言义疏 (A Sub-commentary on the Meaning of the Imitation of Confucius’s Analects), in Xinbian zuizi jicheng 新编诸子集成 (A New Collection of Works of Various Philosophers), vol. 7. Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1987, 147.

27 Fan Ye 范晔, Houhanshu 后汉书. Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1965, 2548.

28 For example, it says in the “Jingji zhi 经籍志” of Sushu 隋书: “In the beginning of the Han dynasty, there was a person called Fei Zhi 费直 who was transmitting the Changes. His text was all in ancient characters, called Ancient Text Changes 古文易, which was passed on to Wang Huang 王璜 from Langya 琅邪, who passed it on to Gang Xiang 高相 from Pei 沛, who further passed it on to his son Kang 康 and Wu Jiangyong 毋将永 from Lanling 兰陵. Thus Fei’s learning was disseminated but was not established as an official orthodoxy. In the Latter Han dynasty, both Chen Yuan 陈元 and Zheng Zhong 郑众 transmitted Fei’s learning. Ma Rong 马融 further composed a commentary on it, which was passed on to Zheng Xuan 郑玄. Zheng Xuan further wrote a Yi zhu 易注 (Annotation to the Changes) and Xun Shuang 荀爽 also composed his Yizhuan (Commentary on the Changes).” (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1973, 912.) However, there were many mistakes in the “Jingji zhi” of Suishu. As it says in the “Compendium for Suishu” (Suishu tiyao 隋书提要) in the Siku quanshu zongmu tiyao 四库全书总目提要 (Annotated General Catalogue of the Complete Collection of the Four Treasuries), “But the compilation of the ‘Jingji zhi’ was disordered and there were many errors in the accounts of the origin and branches of the Confucian Classics studies. For examples, it mistook that the twenty-eight chapters of the Shangshu were orally transmitted by Fu Sheng but did not know Fu Sheng 伏生 had books to teach in the states of Qi 齐 and Lu 鲁; it made a mistake that the ‘Preface to the Poetry’ (Shixu 诗序) was polished and supplemented by Wei Hong 卫宏, while as a matter of fact it was passed down by Mao Heng 毛亨; it thought that the three chapters—“Monthly Ordinance” (Yueling 月令), “Bright Hall” (Mingtang 明堂), and “Record of Music” (Yueji 乐记) in Xiaodai liji 小戴礼记 (Junior Dai’s Records of Rituals)—were added by Ma Rong 马融, without knowing that they had been recorded in Liu Xiang’s 刘向 Bielu 别录 and Liji 礼记 (Records of Rituals).” Therefore, its view of Fei’s Changes is also questionable.

29 Wang Guowei 王国维, Guantang jilin 观堂集林, vol. 7. Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1959, 320-321.

30 Shang Binghe 尚秉和, Yishuo pingyi 易说评议 (Comments on the Discussions of the Changes). Beijing: Guangming Daily Press, 2006, 8.

31 “All the new text Classics in the ‘Yiwen zhi 艺文志’ would not be mentioned with the character jing 经 (lit., Classic). And if there were no sharp differences between the new text and the ancient text of a book, the treatise would not specially mark the book with ‘Zhong guwen 中古文’ (imperial secret ancient text). By this regularity, it can be seen that the Shu 书 (Book of History), Li 礼 (Rituals), Chunqiu 春秋 (Springs and Autumns Annals), Lunyu 论语 (Confucius’s Analects), and Xiaojing 孝经 (Classic of Filial Piety) except the Changes and the Poetry had Ancient Text versions. According to the remark that ‘when Liu Xiang was checking Shi’s, Meng’s, and Liangqiu’s texts with the ancient text Yijing in the imperial secret library, he found their texts missed wujiu 无咎 and/or huiwang 悔亡 here or there,’ it is evident that there were no sharp differences between the new text and the ancient text of the Changes. Analogously, it was also the case for the Poetry. Is this the reason why there were no records of the ancient text in the imperial secret library for these two Classics?” See Gu Shi 顾实, Hanshu yiwenzhi jiangshu 汉书艺文志讲疏 (Discussions on and Explanations of the “Arts and Literature Treatise” in the History of the Western Han Dynasty). Shanghai: Shanghai shangwu yinshuguan, 1924, 13.

32 Liang Gaixiong 梁敢雄, “On the Urgent Establishment of the Ancient Text of the Zhouyi — Discussing from the Fact that Fei Zhi’s Yi Did Not Transmit Ancient Text” (Zhouyi guwen jingben jidai jianli zhongyi — Cong Feishi yi buchuan guwenjing tanqi 《周易》古文经本亟待建立刍议—从费氏易不传古文经谈起), in Guji zhengli yanjiu xuekan 古籍整理研究学刊, no. 5 (2002).

33 As Mr. Qian Mu 钱穆 remarked in the “Author’ Preface” to his Lianghan jingxue jinguwen pingyi 两汉经学今古文平议 (A Critic of the Two Han Dynasties New Text and Ancient Text Classical Studies), “As a matter of fact, this issue (of the two Han dynasties Next Text and Ancient Text Classical studies) only arose after the later Qing dynasty during the reigns of Daoguang 道光 (1821-1850) and Xianfeng 咸丰 (1851-1861). For over a hundred years, this issue took over control and forced academic circles to be involved in the lasting debate between different adherents without any final agreement. If we seek the facts in the two Han dynasties, we can find that there were no disputes of this kind at all.” Beijing: Shangwu yinshuguan, 2001.

34 That Liu Xin 刘歆 derived incidentally to establish the official positions of the Yili 逸礼 and the Guwen shangshu 古文尚书 aimed to strive for potent support from Kong Guang 孔光 (65 BCE-5 CE). As the 14^th generation grandson of Confucius and a great-grandson of Kong Anguo 孔安国 (c. 156-74 BCE, the initiator of the Ancient Text of the Book of History), Kong Guang was then the Prime Minister, whose family had been transmitting the Shangshu for several generations. Liu Xin had time and again gone to lobby Kong, but Kong was too meticulous and refused to add any words beneficial to Liu Xin.

35 Ban Gu 班固, Hanshu (History of the Western Han Dynasty). Bejing: Zhonghua shuju, 1962, 1228.

36 Ibid., 1228.

37 Fan Ye 范晔, Houhan shu 后汉书 (History of the Eastern Han Dynasty). Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1965, 233.

38 Ban Gu 班固, Hanshu (History of the Western Han Dynasty). Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1962, 1967.

39 Xu Shen 许慎, Shuowen jiezi 说文解字. Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 2005, 316.

40 As a matter of fact, Meng’s Changes was also transmitted one generation after another, which had nothing to do with the ancient and new texts. See the first section of the paper.

41 Kang Youwei 康有为, Xinxue weijing kao 新学伪经考 (Textual Research on the Apocryphal Attributes of the Ancient Texts). Beijing: Shenghuo, dushu, xinzhi sanlian shudian, 1998, 207.

42 Wang Guowei 王国维, Guantang jilin 观堂集林, vol. 7. Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1959, 316.

43 Xu Qinting 徐芹庭, Lianghan shiliu jia yizhu chanwei 两汉十六家易注阐微 (A Thorough Explication of Sixteen Schools of Annotations on the Changes in the Two Han Dynasties). Taibei: Taiwan wuzhou chubanshe, 1975, 125-6.

44 Li Xueqin 李学勤, “Classics Referred to in the Preface to Shuowen” (Shuowen de qianxu cheng jing shuo 《说文》前叙称经说), in Journal of Luohe Vocational College of Technology (Comprehensive Edition) (Luohe zhiye jishu xueyuan xuebao 漯河职业技术学院学报[综合版]), no. 2 (2003).

45 The verses that “Weaving cattail stems, or polishing bamboo slips, though they did not have books, they encouraged themselves” in the Sanzi jing 三字经 (Three-character Verses) hinted at the stories of Lu Wenshu 路温舒 and Gongsun Hong 公孙弘 in the Western Han dynasty who wove the cattail stems and polished bamboo slips respectively to transcribe books, and taught themselves.

46 Yang Xiong 扬雄 said in the “My Master” (Wuzi 吾子) chapter of his Fayan 法言: “People who love books but do not seek instruction from Confucius are like a bookstall.”

47 Ouyang Xun 欧阳询 cited from Sanfu huangtu 三辅黄图 in his Yiwen leiqu 艺文类聚 (juan 38): “Seven miles away in the east from the city was Changmancang 常满仓, in the north of which was the locust tree market where there were hundreds of lines of locust trees without any wall. The students from the imperial university used to gather at this market on the first and fifteenth days of each lunar month, carrying various goods produced from their hometowns and classical books as well as musical instruments for marketing. They used to show courtesy to each other and engage discussions under these trees.

48 According to Yan Shigu’s 颜师古 annotation, “When Fu Sheng 伏生 was so old that he could not speak clearly and make himself understood, he let his daughter transmit his words to Chao Cuo 晁错. As the language of Qi [birthplace of Fu Sheng] differs much from that of Ying [birthplace of Chao Cuo], what Chao Cuo could not understand occupied twenty to thirty percent which he wrote down with his own reading on surmise.” See Ban Gu 班固, Hanshu (History of the Western Han Dynasty). Bejing: Zhonghua shuju, 1962, 3603.

49 Ibid., 3601.

50 Liao Ping 廖平, “Siyiguan jingxue sibian ji 四益馆经学四变记”, in Meng Mo, ed., Zhongguo xiandai xueshu jingdian 中国现代学术经典. Shijiazhuang: Hebei Educational Press, 1996, 226.

51 According to the Qing (1636-1912) scholar Wu Rulun’s 吴汝纶 view, “Since the Han scholars spoke of the Book of History, it had versions of the New Text and the Ancient Text. Their differences were manifested in Fu’s 伏 and Kong’s 孔 versions. Both were dug out from the walls and both were written in ancient characters but read with New Text. … They differ in the number of chapters rather in the new or ancient writing styles.” Please see Wu Rulun, “Zaiji xieben shangshu hou 再记写本《尚书》后”, in Tongcheng Wu xiansheng wenji 桐城吴先生文集, juan 1. Qing guangxu sanshinian (1904) wushi keben 清光绪三十年吴氏刻本, 58.

52 Ban Gu 班固, Hanshu 汉书 (History of the Western Han Dynasty). Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1962, 1967.

53 Ibid., 3620.

54 Ibid., 1967.

55 Ibid., 3125.

56 Wang Guowei 王国维, Guantang jilin 观堂集林, vol. 7. Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1959, 310-311.

57 Ibid., 321.

58 Gong Zizhen 龚自珍, “On the Names and Substance of the New Text and Ancient Text of the Han Dynasty in General” (Zonglu handai jinwen guwen mingshi 总论汉代今文古文名实), in Gong Zizhen quanji 龚自珍全集 (Collected Works of Gong Zizhen), vol.1. Shanghai: Shanghai renmin chubanshe, 1975, 75.

59 According to the pre-Qin bamboo slips versions or silk versions of ancient books unearthed in the past decades, even in the pure “Ancient Text,” the variants were also ubiquitously employed.

Zhouyi Yanjiu周易研究Zhouyi Studies (English Version), vol. 8, no. 1 (December, 2012) 74-97

©2012 Zhouyi Studies (English Version)